


In Another World

by myticanlegends



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bittersweet, Canon Compliant, F/M, Falling In Love, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 11:26:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12816516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myticanlegends/pseuds/myticanlegends
Summary: Meera had not considered love in a long time.It was only after almost everything had been taken from her that she had time to fall in love, rather inconveniently, and to remember what she had wanted when the world had been idealistic and young. The protection of the heart tree may have allowed these ideas to foster but the world was never kind.





	In Another World

Meera had not considered love in a long time. She knew it was a feeling and like most young adults, she had often daydreamed about falling in love and having adventures when she was younger. Love was something that her parents had and that she had hoped to have one day.

But then the world fell apart slowly around the edges until it was peeling it’s way towards her and threatening to collapse. Meera didn’t think of love much after that.

She thought about keeping Jojen safe, and then she had to consider how to keep Bran and his younger brother safe as well. Her thoughts were on survival and finding their next meal. She must have been hanging around her brother too long because often her thoughts went towards the future and undead men marching towards Westeros. Her only goal now was to get Bran to the heart tree so that the world would survive and they could have protection from the white walkers.

Meera sacrificed Jojen for this goal, or more accurately Jojen sacrificed himself, and now she was stuck living under a tree with almost none of the concerns she had to bother with before.

She didn’t have to hunt and they were well protected. Bran trained to save the world or see the future but she had nothing. It all got mixed up after a while in what purpose she and Bran served. Nowadays, Meera had no one to talk to much and nothing to consider but her loneliness and loss.

Hodor wasn’t very helpful in that regard.

She tried explaining her pain and her overall sense of pointlessness to him but he simply responded with a low, “Hodor.”

The Children of the Forest were not very accustomed to small talk and Meera suspected they found her dull. They didn’t care much for Meera’s boredom and loneliness but cared mostly for the future and what she could bring it.

“Bran will need you one day,” they said when Meera made the mistake of mentioning it one time. “Stay strong, Meera Reed.”

It was a good sentiment but not at all helpful. Meera was forced to resign herself to the fact that she was a sidekick in someone else’s story. Her goal would always be to help others over herself.

At sunset, she would sit outside and stare at the icy surface that had taken her brother. It looked calm and peaceful now as if nothing had happened and that no creatures had crawled from underneath the surface to attack. It hurt to look but she forced herself until she was numb to it. This had been their purpose and if she gave up now, Jojen’s loss would be in vain.

Bran was the only company she grew to look forward to. He would pull himself to her side and they would mourn the loss of their friend together. Bran would sometimes join her at meals and sometimes he would mention something he learned that was interesting in his lessons. Meera would tell a joke and Bran would laugh. She missed their adventures, hiking through the forest of across the winter wasteland, when it was just them, Hodor, and Jojen with a purpose in mind but plenty of stories to tell along the way.

She missed Bran almost as much as she missed Jojen sometimes when he was off in his lessons but in a different sort of way. She would think of something to tell him to make him laugh and tuck the thought away for later when he joined her at the end of the day. It encouraged her to venture beyond her state of misery and come up with things to amuse herself and by extension, him. She explored the roots of the tree knowing that Bran couldn’t. She would come up with a story to tell or ask the Children of the Forest for one.

It was only when she realized that she didn’t care if Hodor liked her stories, only that Bran did, that Meera realized her feelings toward Bran had changed. She tried explaining it as Hodor not having as much emotion or reaction as Bran could provide but she knew that was bullshit.

Meera found herself in love with Brandon Stark.

Meera had had brief interactions with boys back at the Greywater Watch but none of them felt this real or fragile. That was the love of a child. She was a woman now and she had seen things that she hadn’t imagined were possible and that made the world seem impossibly hopeless. Bran was different. He saw the dismal world around them and yet he still looked at Meera sometimes like he was a bit in love with her too.

“Bran?” She asked one night as they settled into their furs and blankets.

“Yes, Meera?” Bran asked.

“What will we do when we leave this cave?”

“I’ll become the three-eyed raven,” Bran said simply.

“And what will I do?” Meera asked.

“You-” Bran said and they both realized he didn’t have an answer. “You’ll protect me.”

“You won’t always need protecting,” Meera pointed out.

“I…” Bran said but he didn’t finish. He looked as if he had just had a realization and Meera hoped that he would say that they could stay friends if she wanted. That she wouldn’t have to leave and separate their different ways. Some part of her, the part that was still a sixteen year old girl who realized that she was in love, hoped that he would offer more even when they both knew he couldn’t. He was part of a bigger picture and she would only get him there.

Before he could answer, she turned on her side away from him and focused on sleep.

The next day, he joined her as she was sitting just outside the tree wishing that Jojen could have been there with her.

“We’ve spent a long time together,” Bran stated and it felt like the beginning of the end.

“Yes, we have,” she agreed softly.

“I-” Bran started again and Meera remained quiet knowing how often he struggled with what he had to say these days. He balanced the past, future, and present now and he was different than he was at the start of their journey. “I can’t see what the future holds after the war,” he decided on. “I see paths and possibilities. Your path has many different branches and I will not stop your choice when it approaches.”

“I want to travel,” Meera announced. She had been formulating an idea back when she was younger about what she wanted to do with her life. When she thought of her future, Meera thought of this idea as her path and realized it was what she had always wanted, even now. “I want to lead my own life for once. I suppose when we get back, I’ll have to lead my family’s people at Greywater Watch. And I’ll swear allegiance to the Starks if it means that I’ll get to fight and avenge Jojen.”

She looked over at Bran at where he was laying on the ground watching her. “But mostly, I want to live my life with what and who make me happy. I want that to be my path.”

“Do I make you happy?” Bran asked.

Meera wondered if he was insecure about this. If he wondered if he was a burden because he couldn’t move his legs and that Meera was only there because it was her duty.

“Yes,” she said simply. 

“You wouldn’t have to swear allegiance to my family,” Bran decided to say. “You have proven yourself enough.”

“And you’d let me fight?” Meera asked, raising an eyebrow. “To leave your side and battle the white walkers?”

“I would never stop you,” Bran said which was a fair enough answer.

“You could, though.”

“I would never.”

Meera nodded and looked back out over the icy lake. “We’re going different ways,” she admitted, voicing what they were both thinking.

“You’ll find someone who can travel with you and fight, one day. Someone else who will make you happy,” Bran said, and he sounded sad.

Meera wondered if he knew this or if he was attempting to comfort her.

“Not like you,” she said quietly and it was the closest she got to admitting her feelings.

“No one makes me happy like you do, Meera,” Bran said, and that was the closest admission he was giving as well.

Meera kissed him then because it was maybe the last and best opportunity she would get to. There was a feeling hovering on the horizon that suggested danger and Meera didn’t need to see the future to know that they would have to leave the protection of the tree soon. They didn’t know what would happen after, only that Bran would need to find his way back home and that Meera would assist him.

He was remarkably soft for someone that had been growing lanky limbs and cold edges the past couple years Meera had travelled with him. He shifted his weight onto one arm and allowed Meera to draw in closer. 

When she pulled away, Bran’s eyes were still closed. They were never closed anymore, always seeing everything and observing what needed to be observed. When he opened them, she was still watching him.

He didn’t say a word.

“I’m going to help you,” she announced finally. “For as long as I can. But one day, I will need to go home and I’ll need to fight.”

“I know,” Bran said.

“If I survive,” Meera ignored Bran’s hesitating breath at the mention of the previously unspoken result of war and the white walkers. “I’d still help you, if you’d like.”

“Dragging me around?” Bran asked bitterly.

“With anything.”

“You deserve better than me, Meera Reed.”

“Maybe. But it doesn’t mean I care any less.”

Bran didn't say anything but instead looked out towards the spot where Jojen had fallen into the lake and Meera had cut his throat. Meera looked at the spot and then looked away. She pulled herself up on her feet and helped Bran back onto his sled that she pulled back inside. They ate dinner that night in silence.

That night, Meera dreamed of being a little girl once more and navigating the swamp of her home. In her dream there was a young brown haired boy who could climb trees and who chased her through the marsh with his direwolf. He laughed and she threw mud at his face. She laughed too. Their fathers talked over the dining table as their families joyously dined together.

In that world, she could travel and practice sparring with Jojen behind their castle walls. Bran would have his legs and his father. They’d have the freedom to be children and in that world, they would fall in love with no danger in the distance, stalking them, and waiting for them to step out from underneath a dying tree.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I was searching for words to write and out came this story. They had a lot of time in that tree and Bran hadn't quite become the three-eyed raven so this is what I ended up with. It's kind of sad, I can never write anything BUT with Meera and Bran apparently, but their story is a hopeful tragedy in my mind.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Comment, kudos, yada yada yada.


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